


Upgrades

by pencilguin



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Affectionate Snarky Banter, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Nonbinary Character, or baby steps towards it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27357091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pencilguin/pseuds/pencilguin
Summary: [spoilers up to 3x03]Adira gets to see Paul Stamets at work, experiences their first spore jump on Discovery, and finds a lot of tech on the ship to be severely outdated.
Relationships: Adira Tal & Paul Stamets, Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Comments: 15
Kudos: 119





	Upgrades

**Author's Note:**

> Like so often, this was a small scene idea that got out of hand again. It's unbeta'd so I apologize for any mistakes.  
> Probably will be Jossed by the next episode but, ah well, I resign myself to this fate. 
> 
> One episode and I already love Adira and want no harm to ever come to them. 
> 
> Mild CW for one single instance of incorrect pronoun use, but it's in line with canon and out of ignorance on the speaker's part/due to the affected character not being out yet. And for, I guess, mention of canon injuries?

Adira has been shadowing Stamets all day — with his permission, thankfully — following him around his engineering… lab or whatever this workplace of his is supposed to be. The thought of Starfleet, even in the past, operating a ship employing such a highly experimental propulsion technology seems reckless and dangerous. But maybe there’s a deeper story behind that; Adira hasn’t been able to figure it out yet.

Anyway.

Shadowing Stamets, asking all kinds of questions and testing hypotheses — especially when he confirms them to be correct — has been a lot of fun. The engineer with the bright red hair — Tilly — was around earlier, but then she got called to the bridge, and everyone else is just doing their work in this or that corner of the lab as well.

When asked if they were disturbing him during his work, Stamets had stressed that this was not the case, to Adira’s great relief. He seemed nice, and trustworthy, and sort of like… Adira’s kind of people. You probably have to be a nerd of the highest degree to study mushrooms in space, and then design a ship that is powered by their spores and travels through a transdimensional mycelial subspace network. And Stamets seems to have a good heart. In hindsight the initial grumpiness makes perfect sense considering their rocky start, but the conversation that had followed was the first time in many years that Adira felt seen and understood.

Besides, it’s not like they’ve got anything else to do until the Captain has figured out a way for them to access Senna Tal’s memories anyway. And all the other people on this ship are still a little too intimidating.

 _“Commander Stamets,”_ comes Captain Saru’s voice over the comm, _“please prepare for a jump.”_

“Aye, Captain,” Stamets responds. He turns to Adira and smiles. “Ready to see it in action?”

Adira perks up at the words, their face lighting up. “Yes!”

Stamets has said that the interface of the reaction cube connects to him — to the cybernetic implants on his arms that he had shown Adira — and that he is the _navigator_ of the Discovery. Adira may have read up all they could find on historic starships, but imagining what exactly _this_ would look like has been a struggle. Now they’ll finally be able to see for themself.

Stamets nods to one of the other scientists, then heads over to the rack behind his workstation and pulls out a cylindrical container filled with a brightly glowing, blue kind of substance that he inserts into a slot below the station desk’s surface. The sound of the main door swishing open makes both him and Adira look up.

The person who just entered is wearing a different uniform than everyone else Adira has seen so far, crisp white instead of the usual blue, although the ornaments and badge are silver just like Stamets’s. Adira notices the small suitcase the person is carrying, which the label declares to be a medical kit. _Probably a doctor, then._ They make a mental note about the different uniform color while watching the doctor head straight towards Stamets.

“Doctor Culber,” Stamets greets his visitor. His voice sounds neutral but there’s a curious flicker of a smile on his face, Adira notices. “Good to see you.”

“The Captain informed me, as per my request, that we’re about to make a jump. So here I am, to monitor you.”

Stamets furrows his brows. Adira tilts their head curiously as they watch the scene. There’s something odd about the doctor’s cheerful voice.

“Of course this wouldn’t be necessary if I could rely on _you_ telling me, like I asked you to.”

“I told you, I’m fine. We jumped before, remember? And nothing happened. Besides, you barely gave me time to comm you.”

The doctor’s eyebrow twitches upwards in a display of disbelief. “You sure were taking your time. I got all the way down here and still no message from you.”

“Well,” Stamets says evasively, “you’re here now, aren’t you? Great. Let’s get started then.” He taps a thing or two into his console and walks over to the reaction cube again, the doctor following him but still looking unconvinced. Stamets turns to Adira and introduces them. “Hugh, this is Adira, our new passenger. Adira, this is Doctor Culber. He worries too much, and he’s always mean to me.”

“Only when you deserve it,” Culber retorts with a grin. He puts his med kit down on one of the surfaces, takes out an old-fashioned medical tricorder and starts scanning Stamets who unzips and rolls up his sleeves, exposing the implants on his forearms.

Adira watches the spectacle with interest, surprised by the informal banter between the two officers on duty, and this casual side of the mushroom scientist. _Astromycologist_ , Stamets’s voice inside their head already corrects them, and their lips quirk into a smile for a second.

“Okay,” Culber says eventually, although there’s a slightly exasperated undertone to it. He lowers his tricorder. “All readings are normal so far. No more signs of your injuries either. You’re cleared.”

“Like I told you,” Stamets says, rolling his eyes, although it looks more performative than genuine.

An alarm and an ominous flashing of the lights make Adira jump as the Computer’s voice announces, _”Black alert!”_

Stamets turns around to Culber, his face suddenly all soft and affectionate. “I love you,” he says before giving Culber a quick kiss on the lips.

“I love you too. Be safe.”

Then he steps into the reaction cube and, as the door seals behind him, leans against the back rest and holds out his arms in front of the interface ports. The air inside the cube fills with a swarm of the glowing blue spores and the apparatus inside springs to life. Next to Adira, Doctor Culber is monitoring something on his PADD (another weird antique; these people need some serious upgrades to their tech), probably Stamets’s vital signs. They turn their attention back to the cube as well and when two very large needles hook up to Stamets’s implants, Adira shrieks in shock.

The next moment there’s a funny, kind of lurching sensation as if the whole ship does a spin, an odd feeling of water condensation in the air around them, and then — it’s all over. Adira looks around, gasping, but everything appears normal and the other people in the room seem completely unfazed. They turn back to the cube just in time to see the needles withdraw and the ports on Stamets’s arms deactivate. As soon as the door unlocks and he steps out, Culber is by his side again with his tricorder, fussing over him under mild and, honestly, probably half-hearted protest. The alarm has stopped and the lights are back to normal as well. Adira just stares in disbelief and with no small amount of horror.

“See? Nothing to worry about. You can stop doctoring now.”

“Paul, there’s _always_ something to worry about with you.”

Stamets shakes his head, but the fond expression on his face betrays the mock exasperation in his gesture. Still with Culber in tow, he walks over to Adira.

“So, what do you think, resident teen genius?” he asks with a proud smile.

“That — um… whew. That felt weird. Not sure I’ll get used to that.” They take a deep breath. “But more importantly, what’s up with those — those…” They’re gesturing haphazardly in the direction of the cube. “ _Needles_?”

“They’re necessary in order to interface with the…”

“But — _huge-ass_ needles!”

Culber frowns, probably at the profanity, and Adira wonders for a moment if they’re gonna get in trouble here for foul language, but Stamets’ lips quirk up in amusement.

“Couldn’t you find a better way to interface with the drive?”

Now it’s Stamets whose brows furrow, but before he can respond, Culber butts in. “You’re lucky you weren’t around for the first attempts. They used to impale the Commander’s torso each time before I built him these implants.”

Adira stares back and forth between them in horrified silence before finding their voice again. “That’s barbaric.”

“Do you have a better idea?” Stamets challenges.

Adira closes their mouth and thinks about it for a few seconds. A good half a dozen, actually, off the top of their head, although they may have to toss a few of them pretty quickly depending on how the drive works in greater detail. “Yes, I think I do. I need to know more about how exactly everything works, but there are one or two viable alternatives at least. They should work with more superficial contact as well, no more need for —” they gesture at the implants on Stamets’s still exposed arms — “these.”

Both men are staring at Adira now, visibly surprised by the response and, they notice with a flash of pride, impressed. Culber is the first to find his voice again, turning to Stamets with a wide grin.

“I like her.”

Adira bites their lip at the pronoun choice. But then again, how is he supposed to know when Adira hasn’t had the courage yet to tell anyone?

Stamets gives him a skeptical glare at the words. Culber cheerfully packs up his tricorder and grabs his med kit.

“I’ll leave you two geniuses to it then.” He turns to Adira. “I’m not partial to these implants. If you can find a less invasive way for him to navigate, then by all means, go for it. And keep me updated about your findings.” Then, to Stamets, he quietly says, “I’ll see you tonight.”

Stamets smiles. “I’ll try to be on time.”

“You better be, Commander.”

And with that, he heads for the door and leaves. Stamets watches him go, and after the door has closed behind him, it still takes a moment before he manages to pull his eyes away.

“Alright then. Tell me what you have in mind.”

Adira’s face lights up. “Yes, sir!”

In a way, they think, this could be the chance for a great new beginning. To figure out who they are, and maybe… maybe even find a place, and people, where they belong. They may not be quite there yet, but here is someone that Adira might finally learn to trust again.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thank you so much to everyone who leaves lovely and supportive comments on my fics! Even if I usually don’t know how to adequately respond to them, please be assured that they make me super happy and brighten my day! <3


End file.
